


Troodontid

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Gunnerkrigg Court
Genre: Dinosaurs, Gen, Mystery, Robots, Science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-23 00:30:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17070074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: Kat finds a mysterious present in her lab.





	Troodontid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [circumference](https://archiveofourown.org/users/circumference/gifts).



It wasn’t entirely unusual for Kat to enter her workshop and find that the robots had left something behind for her while she was away. At least, she assumed it was the robots, as no one else would be likely to leave her the kinds of things that they did.

If she had found animals or leaves or something, she would be inclined to believe that the gifts were from Paz or Annie, but chunks of metal or odd bits and bobs were almost certainly from the robots.

This morning, as she changed into her coveralls, Kat saw, from the corner of her eye, a lumpy, unidentifiable object on her desk. Intrigued, she pulled over her lighted magnifying glass for a closer look.

The object was shaped like a bone, though it appeared half-embedded in dirt. There was very little actual dirt in the court, with the exception of a few botany labs, and Kat couldn’t imagine the robots bringing her something from the Forest. Annie might, but she certainly would have mentioned it this morning when she wished Kat a good day at her lab.

Gently tapping the apparent bone with a pick, Kat was surprised that it gave back a metallic tone. Could the bone be made of metal? Kat experimentally scraped at the dirt, but it wouldn’t come away. She probed harder, even switching to a stronger pick, but the apparent dirt could not be moved. It was almost as though someone had created a metal sculpture of a dirt-encrusted bone.

Bones were by no means Kat’s forte - current project to grow a robot notwithstanding - and she briefly wished that either Paz or Annie, with their organic inclinations, was there to give her a clue. She suspected that the robots had brought it to her _because_ of Kat’s project, seeing some connection between growing a robot and a metal bone sculpture, but the connection was beyond Kat.

She would need to do some research; maybe tap into her mom’s computer. Fortunately, Kat liked a challenge.

\---

Her research had come to a fairly irrefutable conclusion, but Kat was still desperately hoping to refute it. Through the computer was unable to narrow the results down completely, it had definitely identified the bone as belonging to a member of the troodontid family. That troodontids were a form of bird-like dinosaur was slightly unbelievable, but Kat could handle it. After all, the whole point of fossils was that they were preserved dinosaur bones, and they could be found all over the world. Why couldn’t there be on on display somewhere in the Court?

For that matter, why couldn’t someone in the Court’s past have made a mold of such a bone and then cast a metal sculpture of it? If that's what she was holding, Kat would easily be able to explain it away. She would thank the robots for their consideration, and then tuck it away and forget about it.

The problem was what else her computer was telling her. The bone she held, far from being a stone-like fossil, or a sculptural representation, was registering to the computer as organic. Organic metal was certainly what Kat was striving for, but that was to make a body for a nice, sane, robot! This was a dinosaur that someone had apparently crafted! Furthermore, if the glob of metal on the end was not sand, as the computer was indicating, then the only thing Kat could think was that it was… part… of the dinosaur. Somehow.

She suddenly had visions of little boxbox ripping a chunk out of a dinosaur’s wing and making off with the bone and… gunk, to present to her like a prize. It was an image that made her nauseous, proud, and terrified at the same time. The last thing she needed was a pissed off bird dinosaur hunting down its bone in her lab!

Kat really needed more information, and she needed some kind of help.

\---

“Run!” Annie yelled, pelting towards Kat. Paz grabbed her arm, even as Robot made to grab her other, and they spun around. The quartet raced back towards the door of the arboretum lab as quickly as their varied legs could make it, and Kat hoped that would be fast enough.

Robot made it to the door first and jerked it open, spinning out of the way of the three girls charging after him. Paz tugged Kat through, with Annie only a few lengths behind them. Robot slammed the door so quickly that Kat was afraid that Annie’s hair would have been caught in it.

Mere seconds after the door clicked shut, several heavy bodies slammed into it. The group in the corridor, all panting heavily, jumped in shock. Kat was sure her’s weren’t the only eyes that darted from the hinge to the latch, wondering if both would hold.

The ominous thumps continued, but the door held firm. After taking a moment to catch their breath, the friends exchanged glances. “We should be going?” Paz said uncertainly, glancing back at the door.

“We should,” Annie agreed. “Kat, do you have what you need?”

Kat nodded, still caught up in the moment. Honestly, she didn’t have everything, but there was no way she was risking any of them going back into that arboretum. Even Robot would be no match for the vicious, toothy beaks that had nipped at Annie’s heels as she ran.

In a way, both Kat and the computer had been right. The troodontid were indeed bird-like dinosaurs, and very much extinct. However, someone had created an organic metal version of those horrors. And not just one - a whole flock!

There was a chance that they were generally amiable, but for some reason - probably having to do with a missing wing-bone - they had gone berserk when Robot’s hood slipped down. Annie had had enough time to confirm that they were not from the Forest, and Paz had agreed that they were mechanical instead of purely organic, but that was as far as the group had gotten.

Whichever robot had known about their existence, and had risked itself to obtain the bone for Kat had done her a great favor, even if she was having a little trouble appreciating it as she gasped for breath and waited for her heart to stop pounding. She couldn’t wait to get back to the lab and delve deeper into the mystery of this bone.

The thumping on the door died out, but Kat was in no hurry to go back inside. “Let’s go back to my workshop,” she suggested instead. She had some ideas to try out while everything was fresh in her mind. Perhaps the troodontid bone, combined with Diego’s golems and the robot source code, could lead to her finally cracking the puzzle of growing hybrid organic/inorganic robot bodies!


End file.
